Situation: A community foundation CEO shared with me that her organization was growing, but the processes they had in place felt frail. She worried that employee turnover could create the risk of errors and reputation damage. Also, the foundation was moving slowly in performing essential services, such as issuing donor-advised fund (DAF) grants. This CEO knew the foundation had the opportunity for growth, but employees were burned out from regularly working overtime on both evenings and weekends. How could she lead the team to solve these challenges?
Approach: My first step was to introduce process improvement/transformation tools so staff and leadership could see what was actually happening. Then I provided a four-hour “Concepts Training” to project teams to build the foundation’s most powerful asset: their team. After that I coached a 24-hour process deep dive into the foundation’s DAF grants process.
Results: This approach enabled each project team member to learn the process. The team removed 40% of the process steps they had formerly used to issue DAF grants. In so doing, they decreased turnaround time and recaptured about 1,500 hours of staff time. Staff and leaders came to understand that every employee needed to be part of the solution. Now the team has both skills and will to replace FIMS. A delighted project champion commented that the work was done on time, on target, and on budget.
See a process deep dive happen: IPD Process Deep Dive Experience Video
Given that November marks the beginning of the big donation season, many philanthropic organizations have only the next four months to position themselves for success this year. Now is a great time to engage employees in solving pain points, creating capacity, and getting ready for the year-end donation season. Learn more: What Will Your Organization Accomplish in the Next Four Months?
Recently, a software vendor told me that organizations considering a new software system would do well to supply their vendor with a detailed process map. Having such a map helps the vendor better address the organization’s needs and generate a more accurate quote. In four hours of work with your team, I can produce a process map that will help you achieve a better software outcome. Contact me to learn more.
The past two years have been defined by disruption, causing some leaders to worry about overwhelming staff with process changes. In reality, however, thoughtfully examining and optimizing day-to-day organizational activities can actually help philanthropic and nonprofit organizations recapture time, improve accuracy, increase coaching, and otherwise enhance their community impact. Learn more in my article recently published in Candid’s Philanthropy News Digest. Change for good: How foundations can increase impact through operational improvements | The sustainable nonprofit | Features | PND (philanthropynewsdigest.org)
MinnCAP Annual Conference, Willmar Minnesota
July 26, 2022, 1:30 to 2:45 pm
Minnesota CAP agencies: Learn more and register: MinnCAP Annual Conference 2022
Process and operations improvement has continued despite the pandemic, according to our recent study of philanthropic foundations. Yet according to the survey, leaders are worried about staff readiness for more change.
Learn more about the challenges and opportunities uncovered in this survey through this executive summary. 2022 Operations Improvement Survey Results
Then hear detailed survey findings and the related solutions in our live, short, free, “About Transformation” webinars.
To see how we conduct an operations process deep dive, check out this deep dive video.
Is your foundation looking to do more? Are employees stressed out? Are you looking at new systems? If you see any of these challenges, consider joining my firm for one of our live, no-cost webinars.
This About Operations Transformation series focuses on helping foundation leaders understand how they can improve work outcomes.
(New webinar)
Is your operations staff ready for more change?
Many operations employees—the people who are most accountable for implementing new ideas—are worn out and not ready to take on the challenges that inevitably accompany change. In this webinar, Lee Kuntz will share three ways to get operations staff ready to make positive, productive changes.
(Updated webinar)
Upgrading software? Maximize your investment and success with process redesign. When a foundation updates its software system, the purchase typically requires years of research and a financial investment that can run well into six figures. So it’s important to make the most of that purchase. In this live, no-cost webinar, you will learn the best practices for redesigning and maximizing business processes and practices during new system implementation.
(New webinar based on recent survey)
Operations—the work done to execute an organization’s mission—is critical to achieving success. In this webinar, you will hear how foundations have improved their approach to getting work done. Next, we will help you identify potential opportunities for maximizing how processes, people, and systems can lead to better outcomes and enhanced impact. Finally, we will explain the steps needed to achieve great results from operations and process improvement.
Operations—the work done to execute an organization’s mission—is critical to achieving success.
Are you looking to improve the operations outcomes of your organization? Are you looking to make service to your community better, faster or more impactful?
Our coached process deep dive helps teams see and solve their process pain points. They improve quality, reduce turn-around time and deliver more efficiently and effectively to their community. Experience our process transformation deep dive in this short video.
Is your organization looking to make a bigger community impact? Your operations—that is, how work is done—can be a powerful contributor in accomplishing your organization’s mission.
For philanthropic organizations, the nuts and bolts of operations are what enable teams to award and deliver grants quickly, set up and service fund accounts accurately, and work effectively with their boards. Some organizations have discovered that fine-tuning these operations equips them to magnify their community impact.
These organizations function at their best when their processes, systems, and people are maximized. Here are three ways organizations can maximize to operate for impact.
Better service to the community. When an organization’s grantmaking work steps are consistently carried out as designed (including substantial error proofing), grants are issued accurately. Proactive operations staff make these grants in the manner that is best for grantees, whether electronically or with hard-copy checks. Having processes in place to verify email and postal addresses eliminates the need to reissue communications or follow up on missing grant payments. When organizations manage processes for accuracy and a high service level, everyone’s time and energy can be spent wisely.
Quicker turnaround. Most organizations spend hundreds of thousands—even millions—of dollars on technology. From my experience, few of them use more than half their system’s capabilities. Instead they rely on manual processes and system work-arounds, all of which slow the delivery of payments to grantees and receipts to donors. When payments and receipts do not go out on time, grantees and donors typically start calling to find out the status of their payment or donation. Fielding calls and tracking down an explanation takes precious time away from the main purpose of the philanthropic effort.
A grantmaker who makes best use of the available tools, such as leveraging templates in Outlook and creating system reporting rather than relying on manual work-arounds, gets grants and confirmations out the door fast. The donor or grantee’s focus on creating an impact continues without disruption.
Efficiency that creates lower administrative costs, enabling more community investment. Philanthropic work, whether related to program design or operations, is paid for by fund expenses. Therefore, greater internal costs mean higher fund expenses and less money available for making a philanthropic impact. Doing operations work more efficiently can help decrease internal costs. A key component to that efficiency is maximizing staff time.
Yet too often, operations staff are hired and then shown their desk and a pile of work. This may unwittingly imply that their role is less important than the functions carried out by program designers.
Nonprofits that support their staff by defining clear roles, providing purposeful training, and delineating business rules find that their staff gets work done faster and better. And not inconsequentially, their employees are satisfied, productive, and energized.
Grantmakers and operations staff working in finance, technology, human resources, and other areas have an important role to play in enhancing efficiency. By proactively managing and improving processes and making best use of systems, you can increase the philanthropic impact of your organization.
Learn more about how to enhance operation in this recently published article: Invest in your operations teams to drive your mission forward – PhilanTopic | PND | Candid
Lee Kuntz is founder and president of Innovation Process Design, Inc. As a certified process coach, she provides process improvement training and coaching to help teams look at their work with new eyes, transform how work gets done, and create tangible results in operations efficiency and effectiveness.
Many nonprofits and philanthropies have come under pressure to be more efficient and effective than ever before. Yet, the dollars just haven’t been invested to support the kinds of operations needed to carry out today’s heightened level of giving in addition to addressing emergency programs.
With organization’s planning and budgeting for the next fiscal year, now that is changing. Learn more in Lee Kuntz’s recently published article.
Invest in your operations teams to drive your mission forward
Most philanthropic organizations take pains to carefully design and then redesign their mission, strategy, and programs. They, along with their board of directors, often hire strategic consultants and share best practices with like-minded organizations to frame their goals and objectives. Yet many spend little time improving their daily operations to deliver on these plans, even though community impact will happen only by doing so.
Sound planning without excellent execution is unlikely to produce the desired results. Operations—meaning how work gets done—is the key determinant of whether organizations succeed in accomplishing their mission. For philanthropic organizations, the nuts and bolts of operations are what enable teams to award and deliver grants quickly, set up and service fund accounts accurately, and work effectively with their board.
Not surprisingly, the majority of grantmakers’ resources are spent on operations. Our recent informal study showed only about 10% of employee time is used for mission, strategy, and program design. Yet 90% of employee time is spent on the operations to deliver on that planning. Yet in philanthropic organizations, little energy is spent maximize those operations resources.
Each full-time employee of a philanthropic organization works about 2,000 hours annually. Staff leaders can assign and manage that time in an efficient and effective way. Or they can assign employees to tasks that duplicate efforts and don’t add value. Either way, the money is gone and the community pays for that time through fewer grant dollars being spent.
Operations success requires specific skills. These include focusing on details to produce desired results, practicing strong project and task management, solving problems effectively, and having a deep working knowledge of process management and improvement.
A great first step toward enhancing operations expertise is to identify employees with an operations aptitude, then provide them process management and improvement training. Our operations and process transformation training uses proven process methodologies to maximize what the organization already has to improve outcomes. We show attendees how to maximize work steps, technology, business rules, roles, training, and forms—all of which are components of operations.
As a result of our training and coaching during these deep-dive events, we see organizations achieving a greater understanding of the value of operations work. Their employees are also transforming how work is done, significantly reducing and improving the work steps to decrease turn-around time and improve community impact. Learn more through this case study describing how one team went from overwhelmed and delivering late to making a much greater community impact.
In my recent conversations with foundations, I have noticed a greater commitment to scrutinizing how work is done. This includes identifying staff to focus on monitoring operations outcomes while also managing processes and systems. Increasingly, grantmakers are redesigning roles to build in detailed operations accountabilities. We have seen three approaches to this intensified concentration on operations:
Identify an operations person in each major function: Some organizations are establishing operations accountabilities by naming a person in each area as the operations lead. For example, one philanthropy team includes a senior operations manager who “ensures the productivity and efficiency of the Philanthropic Services team while working across departments to improve cross-team collaboration and communication.”
Another organization employs an operations manager who “guides the development and implementation of efficient processes within the Community Programs team to maximize the team’s efforts toward racial and economic equity.” This same organization employs an operations manager in their finance area to deliver on the chief financial officer’s agenda. This operations manager “owns and drives Finance & Operations team planning, project management and process development. The role also is the primary liaison for Finance and Operations communication across teams and collaborates on cross-foundation operations initiatives.”
Hire a chief operations officer (COO): Some organizations are grouping functions that are highly operational into one leadership role. For example, one job posting noted that the COO “will work in alignment and harmony with the CEO and will be responsible for effectively managing the organization’s infrastructure, processes, human and financial resources.”
Another philanthropic group shared that the COO “leads the Information Technology, Grants Administration, Board governance, Human Resources, Organizational Development, Office Management, and business continuity functions.”
Add the management of operations to a senior leader’s responsibilities: Some organizations add “Operations” to the responsibilities of the chief financial officer (CFO) or another leader. One foundation’s description of its CFO and operations role includes: “Responsible for leading the Foundation’s financial reporting, risk management, budget, technology roadmap, and investment oversight.”
Another organization lists some responsibilities of the vice president of finance and operations as follows:
Making a positive community impact is possible only when effective operational practices are in place. Foundations are now building their operations capabilities and accountabilities, enabling them to focus on both planning and operations successfully. Your organization can too. Contact Lee Kuntz to talk about the operations challenges you see at your organization.
Hear Lee speak at the FAOG 2021 Conference on 9/15/21; 11 am – 12:00 pm
Are your foundation staff nearly working around the clock, yet is there even more to do? Are they working remotely or in transition? Are employees feeling stressed out? Are they at risk of leaving the foundation?
In this professional development session, leaders and individuals will hear and practice three engaging employee productivity best practices. Learning objectives include: 1) Learn productivity hacks; 2) Set up the productive workspace; 3) Lead the productive office.
This annual conference is open to Foundation Administrators and Officers Group (FAOG) members. Learn more about the conference at: https://www.faogcf.org/2021_conference.php
Community foundation friends: See you there!
Many consultants offer process improvement services alongside their other services, but a consultant who is certified in proven business process improvement methods can help your team reach ambitious goals most effectively. A certified process improvement consultant can help you achieve significant, measurable results such as recapturing capacity and realizing a faster return on new system investment.
Business process improvement methodologies are all about transforming how work is done to improve outcomes. These approaches range from the latest techniques to traditional methods, some of which have been around for almost a hundred years.
Each of these methodologies produces desired results when used as designed. However, not all these industrial engineering techniques and tools work in every situation. For example, Six Sigma makes use of significant statistical tools that are great for challenges encountered at manufacturing companies, but they are of little value to service organizations. Yet the process control component of Six Sigma is valuable to any organization looking to deliver consistent results. The key is to identify and use the right methodology and tools for the challenges at hand.
Some professional certifications have a strict, common definition. For example, the AICPA governs the Certified Public Accountant designation, setting standards that are respected around the nation. Passing the CPA examination was a proud moment in my life, because the certifying exam was so difficult.
In contrast to public accounting, where the content is clearly defined by a single entity, becoming certified in business process management requires demonstration of competency in multiple disciplines. These disciplines overlap each other, as shown below.
Figure 1: Methodology Overlap
The training and certification exam for each methodology includes tools that are not taught or tested in the other disciplines. For example, the American Society for Quality includes only a handful of Lean operations tools in its Six Sigma Lean Operations Black Belt training and certification. The Lean Institute makes use of only a few Six Sigma tools in its program. For most of these methodologies, people seeking certification must prove their mastery through education, testing and, at times, the submission of completed projects that demonstrate their competency.
Business process management certification is important for several reasons. First, it represents independent verification of the applicant’s knowledge and skills. Certification serves as confirmation that the applicant has learned and mastered techniques.
Second, certification supports achieving significantly better outcomes, which is critical as process improvement success is judged on the results achieved. These significantly better outcomes could be fewer errors, higher quality, faster outcomes, a better experience for customers, or a new system installation that pays for itself in two years.
The chart below chart illustrates transformational results some of your colleagues in the philanthropic sector achieved when they used our certified process improvement services. Process steps were reduced and improved. Quality and speed were improved.
Figure 2: IPD Certified Process Improvement Impact
Innovation Process Design (IPD) can teach your team the business process management skills you will need to identify process improvement opportunities on an ongoing basis. By developing proficiency of your own, you will not be dependent upon a consultant to make continual progress.
As IPD’s lead trainer and coach, I am certified, trained, and skilled in Lean operations, Six Sigma, human-centered design, project management, and public speaking. Our team’s depth and breadth of tools and experience enables us to select the tools and approaches that best address your specific challenges and goals. We have extensive experience helping philanthropic organization achieve significantly better outcomes. Our successful track record means you can complete process redesign faster, more efficiently, and with better results. Learn more about these results in these case studies.
Streamline Through Effective, Paperless, Electronic Payments
Maximize New Systems through Process and Practice Redesign
Business process management certification matters. Other organizations have experienced the advantages and results that certified process improvement brings. Your organization can too. Contact me, Lee Kuntz, to learn more.
Because of the pandemic, many of our children are living with hybrid learning models. This enables them to continue acquiring skills and knowledge instead of falling behind while schools are closed.
Now foundations and other nonprofit organizations can also stay ahead of the curve. Our process evaluation and transformation services are now available in hybrid format. This allows employees to join the sessions from wherever they are and participate fully in the process transformation training and process deep dive.
No employees want to be subjected to boring, online, recorded sessions where they just sit and listen to what someone has to say. Instead, we maximize various technologies to promote employee engagement in process transformation. We collaborate with those who actually execute various processes to find ways to increase efficiency and impact. Also, our joint creation tools enable attendees to both follow the conversation and review what was mapped already to ask questions and make good points in real time.
I really appreciated a recent client saying, “Lee works well in both in-person and virtual environments and is well equipped to ensure staff are involved, heard and feel valued.”
Learn more at: IPD Process Transformation Services Now Available in Virtual, in-Person, and Hybrid Formats.
Contact me to learn more about how our process evaluation and transformation hybrid events yield recaptured capacity, more equitable grant application evaluation, and better services to the community. Foundations and other nonprofits have achieved these results. You can too.
Contact Lee today to discuss your challenge.
